My father never had any trouble getting in touch with his "inner child"; it happened regularly every December. Dad adored Christmas and each year as the temperatures dropped and the nights grew longer, he'd drag the boxes of decorations and lights from the attic and the fun would begin. Miles of outdoor lights were strung along the roof-line and tacked around the windows. Fresh-cut trees were installed in the living room and decked out with cheap glass ornaments and tiny strips of silver "tinsel" (which in retrospect looked more like silver spider webs than the icicles it was supposed to represent). Christmas, for him, was a time to indulge, a time when restraints were tossed aside and "excess" was the rule of the day. And I am his daughter in every way.I adore Christmas trees, decorations, nativity scenes, and Nat King Cole on the stereo crooning about chestnuts and "folks dressed up like eskimos."
We don't dress like eskimos in Australia at this time of year, but even so, many decorations and traditions (including what to serve on the day) are connected to and reflect the holidays as experienced in colder climates. I thought that I'd miss chilly December and the possibility of "white Christmases", but I don't . Maybe that's because growing up in central Ohio, my Christmases tended to be cold and muddy, not snowy. Had my childhood been full of Norman Rockwell holidays I might have more trouble adjusting. As it is, I adore Christmas as a summer holiday. The idea of Santa in shorts and flip flops doesn't bother me a bit - and that his sleigh is pulled by eight white boomers (kangaroos) and not reindeer, well... of COURSE!
Here's my top ten favorite things about Australian Christmas (not necessarily in order):
- The weather is, normally, reliably nice. Yes, it might get hot on Christmas Day, but that's OK. Sunshine and flowers - ahh... the first month of summer. You can have your Christmas tree and still sit out on warm evenings to enjoy the stars and the scent of roses in bloom.
- People here actually LIKE fruit cake (it's called "Christmas Cake" here), and when they receive one as a gift they show enthusiasm. Of course, fruit cakes you get here were actually baked in the current century and that probably has something to do with it.
- In the grocery store y'day, the kid ringing up my purchases wished me a Merry Christmas. He looked me straight in the eye, paused a second, and said it in a way that made me understand that he really meant it. When I returned the sentiment, he grinned broadly and lit up. "Thank you!" he beamed. It's the same everywhere. Australians at Christmas never miss a chance to wish their fellow men and women "the very best". And they mean it.
- The TV channels have a certain amount of "holiday programming", but they aren't clogged with annual re-runs of so-called Christmas classics. Today is Dec. 21, and I just checked the local free-to-air channels for this evening. There isn't a single Christmas-themed program on tonight. How refreshing. Yes - I understand the real meaning of Christmas, yes I grew up loving (and still love) "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and it's like. But it sure is nice NOT to be bombarded with an overload of secular (and often sappy) holiday reruns. Does that mean there are no Christmas specials at ALL? NO! Of course not. Australian TV serves up some goodies every year - but not in a suffocating avalanche.
- Along the same lines as the TV, I have to say that Christ is more evident in Christmas here. Without so much focus on "Frostie the Snowman" and such, there are fewer competing themes.
- No Christmas music piped in at the grocery, or in most stores. Yes, there are the performers in the malls - but the retailers here don't drown you in holiday hits as you shop.
- Australians just don't seem freaked out over Christmas. I don't hear anybody complaining about the "stress of the holidays" - my friends are having too much fun to worry about stress. Didn't get the cards out on time? No worries. Still haven't found the perfect prezzie for that special someone? No worries.
- Christmas pudding - which I think of as an extra-moist fruitcake. Everybody likes "pud" and I've got a great recipe which yields one that I've been told (by two elderly Australian gentlemen who would never lie or flatter me unduly) is pretty authentic. I adore steaming the "pud" - esp. after a friend told me about putting a coin in the bottom of the pot so that I'd know if the water is boiling off too soon.
- This year I'm seeing a LOT of cars with those wacky antler-horns that you put in the car windows - and the little "Rudolph red-nose" that is affixed to the front grill. Actually - loved this so much that I got a set for Stephen's car (next year I'll get a set for mine).
- At parties and functions, private or public, "bonbons" (Christmas "crackers") are very popular. These mini-poppers are paper rolls with a little gunpowder wrapped inside. You and a friend grab an end and pull... and POP! Inside is a tissue paper crown, a trinket of some kind, and a slip of paper with a horrible, tacky joke written on it. No matter where you are - in someone's home or in a 5-star restaurant - most people will put on the crown and then take turns reading the horrible jokes. It's so silly, so fun, and so wonderful - like stepping back in time to a place and day when you were still innocent. I know this isn't something invented here, but I adore watching and participating in the silliness.
WASSUP?
- What I’m listening to: "Christmas in Australia" - not sure who the performers are
- What’s for tea: leftovers from last night's homemade pizza
- What I’m reading: Year of Wonders - A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
- Wine recommendation: leftover chardonnay (a clean skin) from last night
- What's the season?: summer in Oz, winter in the U.S.
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